Another noob question about cables. My TV stand with the 50" plasma and center channel speaker will be in the center of the main wall, with tower speakers on either side. My components will reside in a Studio Tech cabinet in the corner along that same wall. Question is...do I run the HDMI cable from the receiver to the plasma through the wall, through the attic and then down the wall behind the TV? If I do that is there a wall plate available for HDMI cables?

Or should I instead try to remove the baseboard moulding and hide the HDMI cable behind the moulding? This would certainly cut down on cable length!

Same question for speaker wires...do I run them through the walls, or hide them behind the baseboard molding? What do most people do?

If I get a separate amp, should I put it in the component cabinet or leave it on the bottom shelf of the TV stand? Putting it on the TV stand will shorten the speaker wire length but lengthen the balanced interconnect cables.

Thanks for you help everyone! :)

Too many particulars to answer about how to hide your cables. A lot of people simply leave them exposed.

The separate amp, like the receiver, needs lots of air circulation. Don't worry about balanced cable or speaker cable length. Neither makes any difference at these lengths.

You can try cables to go website and look at Rapid Run cabling for some ideas. This stuff is expensive but seems to do a nice job.

http://www.cablestogo.com/

The routing of cabling and location of equipment is ultimately up to you and your particular situation.

I would just get some of those cable conduits at either Lowes or HD. I like the Lowes ones a bit better. Stick them along the baseboard and stick the cable inside. You will hardly notice. They cost $4-5 for 6ft lengths. Its hardly worth drilling into the wall for this sort of thing, and that gives you future flex to move things.

I sent mine to Lebanon, just north of Beirut.

I sent mine to Lebanon, just north of Beirut.

lol. How about Afghanistan? I hear we can't find much there. :D

I would just get some of those cable conduits at either Lowes or HD. I like the Lowes ones a bit better. Stick them along the baseboard and stick the cable inside. You will hardly notice. They cost $4-5 for 6ft lengths. Its hardly worth drilling into the wall for this sort of thing, and that gives you future flex to move things.

That's what I use. They're not the most practical, but they work in a pinch. Helps if your walls are already white.

Cable Hiders from Lowes will get the job done and they are paintable so you can pretty much match them to your wall color to make it look almost seamless...

ideally you would want to just fish the wires through the wall, but that can be time consuming, costly and a real PITA if you know what i mean...

That's what I use. They're not the most practical, but they work in a pinch. Helps if your walls are already white.


I think they are practical - but if you're willing to spend more money and be more "permanent" in what you're doing then I guess do the drilling and pulling thru walls, but then its a pain if you ever want to move stuff or put in a different cable, etc.

Everything has a compromise. If one thing was overwhelmingly easy or practical, no one would bother with the other choices. :)

In the "What's your System Config" forum, you can see pics of the stuff I use and how it looks in a white room.

I use those long ridged tubes that look like vaccuum cleaner hose, split down the side -- cable organizers. Cheap and effective in combining many wires into one big 'wire'.

I just took 2 old vacuum cleaner hoses and got a wire for every connection on the tv(came out pretty cheap with monoprice) drilled four holes with a keyhole saw and fished both hoses down. I found these wall plates that kind of neatly group the wires as they hang down at pcconnection. They're only about $10. Pretty easy setup and hides things pretty good. I'm hoping to use keystone type wallplates eventually. Just think it would look neater and not be as expensive getting custom plates.